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By Micah D. Halpern
October 16, 2004
The safest place for Israelis, is Israel. Because in Israel, protecting Israelis is the priority.
And for those who refused to believe the truth of those statements, the proof is in the massive, devastating explosions that took place in the Egyptian Sinai over the Jewish holiday of Tabernacles. Attacks perpetrated on non-Israeli soil, but perpetrated against Israelis.
The acts of terror that ripped apart Egyptian Sinai beaches, a popular tourist hotel and most importantly, lives and limbs, were perpetrated by two al Qaeda groups both of which pledge allegiance to Zahwari, Bin Laden's number two. One group, unknown until now, is named Jama al Islamiyah Alamiyah, the other is the Abdullah Azzam Group.
For al Qaeda it was the perfect soft target -- a double whammy, easy to assemble, sending a strong message. This attack was perpetrated expressly against Israel and then also against Egypt, both enemies of al Qaeda.
Israel was hit for simply existing. Until now, hitting Israel was an unattainable target for al Qaeda. Israel's safeguards were too high, too strong to allow al Qaeda or their operatives access or entry. They tried in Turkey they tried in Tunisia, but only with minimal success. It took the Egyptians to make it all possible and on a grand scale.
Why Egypt? Because they are a non-Muslim Arab state that established relations with the United States and with Israel. Because they signed a treaty establishing a cold peace with Israel, a situation which al Qaeda sees as a capitulation to the West. Because it was easy.
In the fight against terror, one of the greatest protective tools is intelligence. Another tool is the sharing of information. Israel's intelligence sources predicted a major attack on the Egyptian beaches of Sinai and they passed the intelligence on. It was ignored.
And so, it was easy to reach a large group of Israelis vacationing and unprotected just over the border in Egypt. The results were devastating.
But al Qaeda's success in this attack was greater than even they could have hoped. It underscored the failings of the war against terror. Intelligence was gathered but ignored. Information was shared, but disregarded. And the myth of "international cooperation" was blown as sky high as the explosives that were detonated.
The fight against terror must also involve the saving of lives. And in Egypt, that simply, woefully, did not happen.
Israelis love to travel. They need to travel. They go to Turkey and Bulgaria for their casinos. They travel to Morocco and to Hungary and to the Czech Republic and enjoy the spas. Younger Israelis go to the Far East and to South America to breath the fresh, clean air, to remove themselves from the heavy threat of daily terror attacks.
And they go to the Sinai. They go to bask in unbelievably beautiful sunsets, they go because it is inexpensive, but most of all -- they go because it is so very close that Israelis are even able to drive their cars over the border.
In this case, the geographical distance of only a few hundred yards turned into the distance between life and death, between safety and danger, between security and a crap shoot.
Israeli rescue teams and machinery, firefighters and medical personnel, were only a minute's drive away -- but forbidden to enter. It took hours before the Egyptian government approved a co-operative rescue operation. It took a day and a half before the Egyptians cordoned off the area, meanwhile, belongings and cash were looted from hotel rooms, car radios and speakers were stolen from parking lots. And local rescue workers were overheard voicing terribly disrespectful thoughts about the Israeli dead and wounded.
Anonymity does not exist. And to believe that any traveler, especially an Israeli, can travel unnoticed on foreign soil is delusional and dangerous.
As a rule Israelis are anything but incognito when they travel. They travel in bunches, they speak Hebrew wherever they are, they seek out remembrances of home. And, as we saw in Egypt, local authorities are ill prepared to protect themselves, let alone visiting Israelis against terror attacks and unwilling and unprepared to help save Israelis after the attack.
No one protects Israelis as well as Israel. Protecting and saving Israelis is a priority only for Israel. Israel may have friends, but Israelis have only one protector.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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